One year after our first expedition to the beautiful Solu Glacier (see AAJ 2013), Gaby Lappe, Clemens Pischel, and I returned with a load of big-wall equipment to the village of Bisil and pastures of Pakora. Once more, it was not only a climbing t...
Our all-Pakistan expedition to the Fourth Koksil Glacier took place from August 17–28 and comprised Kamal Haider, Sa'ad Mohamed, Ahmed Mujtaba, Syed Jawad Tashfeen, and me from Islamabad, and Arif Baig and Mohammad Yahya from Shimshal. Koksil Sar ...
After withdrawing from the Diamir Face of Nanga Parbat, following the terrorist attack, my next expedition was to the Ghidims Valley with Polish friend Anita Parys.After crossing Boesam Pass, Anita and I, along with locals Ilyas and Bulbul, reache...
In August-September 2012, Frank Gasser (Italy), Detlef Seelig (Germany), and Birgit Walk (Austria) visited the Ghidims Valley. The first people to reach the start of this valley, at a place called Mandi Kushlak, were Henry Montagnier and Captain C...
In June the international team of Olov Isaksson (Sweden), Anton Karnoup (Russia/U.S.), Jesse Mease (U.S.), and I (as leader) trekked to the Choktoi Glacier. Having been denied permission to enter the Chinese Karakoram, and denied official registra...
Ludvik Golob, Tomaz Goslar, Mojca Svajger, and I planned to acclimatize in the Aling Valley, then cross 5,620m Gondokhoro La and make an alpine-style ascent of Gasherbrum I. We climbed in the Aling from July 17–31, then descended to Hushe, where w...
Malika Parbat (5,290m) is the highest peak in the Kaghan Valley, an area considered save for both local and foreign tourists. The highest (south) summit was probably first climbed by British Army officers Willoughby and Price in 1940 and again, vi...
In June, Kevin Volkening and I established a new route in the Sunlight Creek tributary to the Clarks Fork, a relatively remote climbing area just outside of Yellowstone in Wyoming. After months of Kevin telling me how awesome and full of potential...
There are many impressive walls in East Rosebud Canyon, but few are as proud and spectacular looking as the Doublets. The Upper Doublet is a monster at approximately 2,000’, perched high on the west side of the canyon; the Lower Doublet, at 1,500’...
In August, Patrick Kingsbury, Patrick Odenbeck, and I set off into the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, returning to a wall I first saw in 2009. This remote wall is located above Lake Pisce, in a high cirque north of the Two Sisters and slightly det...
Over three trips in March and April 2013, Jeremy Aslaksen and I established a new route on the north face of the Kingfisher, between the climbs Dead Again and Hazing. We had spied the line on a rest day the prior year when we established Beak to t...
In winter 2014, Jim Beyer soloed two new routes in the Fisher Towers. He reported that he did not place any heads on the climbs, a technique for which he has been criticized on some of his other Fisher Towers routes (AAJ 2013).In January, Beyer cl...
In October 2012, Mary Harlan and I began work on some new routes on the northwest corner of the Bridger Jack butte in Indian Creek, just outside of Canyonlands. The routes are just around the buttress as you hike toward the climb Rimshot. I return...
Until 2011 very little development had occurred on the steeper rock faces in central Idaho’s Lost River Range. But now that the door has been opened, several very fine routes have been established. These are big limestone and dolomite walls, 1,500...
I HAD BEEN searching for this rock for roughly 20 years, having first heard of it from a wilderness outfitter, who said it was somewhere in the southern Bitterroot Wilderness and was one of the biggest walls in the range. My searching brought abou...
[Editor's Note 10/2014: It appears that Cathedral Tower was first climbed by its east ridge (right skyline of the tower) to the east summit (rightmost in the photo) in December 1961 by Joanna Coleman, John McComb, and Don Morris. They are reported...
Kim Jin-Seok and Oh Young-hoon climbed in the Langtang Valley during February. The pair warmed up with an ascent of the easy east ridge of Gangja La Peak (5,652m), the first peak east of Gangja La. They then climbed Naya Kanga (5,863m) by the c...
On April 24 a group of experienced alpinists—Geoff Bonney, Peter Chadwick, my wife Sandy Gregson, Michael Smith, and I (all U.K.), along with Alexandre Buisse (France) and Tony Hoare (Canada), gathered in Reykjavik, ready to fly the next day to Co...
For the past three years, while traveling to Zongo Pass for rock climbing, I have looked at the southwest face of Pico Milluni (5,500m) and thought that in the right conditions it must hold interesting mixed lines. Despite its easy access and a nu...
In post-monsoon season 2012, a New Zealand Alpine Club expedition led by John Nankervis explored the rarely visited Yangma Khola region, west of Kangchenjunga. Permits had been granted for Syao Kang (also spelled Suaokang) and Chaw East. Both peak...